24 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ventilation. During the past two winters 

 I have given my winter repository both 

 upward and lower ventilation ; have ven- 

 tilated some hives, others had none, but it 

 makes no difference. Neither does the 

 kind of food they have to eat ; some of 

 mine had all basswood, others all flowers, 

 never saw any difference in results. What 

 kills our bees is a disease which I know 

 little of, save that it is intestinal. Can 

 save more bees when they are diseased by 

 keeping them at a uniform temperature. 

 Keep the temperature at the point the bees 

 call for — the degree of heat in which they 

 are almost perfectly quiet. Two years 

 ago my bees were satisfied with 42 ° ; last 

 winter they insisted on 32 ° . The past 

 season I saved swarms that had been sick 

 for two months — not in good condition — 

 though by using combs that were em- 

 ployed last year in raising nine cent ex- 

 tracted honey. I increased fitty stocks to 

 one hundred and five, to raise twenty-five 

 cent box honey with another season. 

 When the bees are a little sick, good care 

 will save them ; but if badly affected salt- 

 peter won't do it. 



Pres. Balcu — Prof Cook carefully test- 

 ed the ventilation theory some years ago. 

 A hive was heremetically sealed up in the 

 fall and allowed to remain so all winter. 

 When spring came the bees were all in 

 good condition except Balch's that could'nt 

 be resurrected. But the bees were not 

 dead, only in a semi-dormant condition, 

 and proved to be worth more than any 

 three of the others. What produces the 

 disease is upward ventilation ; it makes 

 bees eat — they can't void their fceces — they 

 die of dysentery. 



James Heddon — 'Tis an epidemic and 

 not contagious. Four years ago when my 

 bees all died, I brought in a box hive from 

 the country in midwinter and placed it in 

 the center of the cellar, surrounded by 

 other swarms; all the others died while 

 this one came out in splendid condition 

 even though it was badly stirred up in 

 getting it home. 



T. S. Bull — Have wintered my bees in 

 my house cellar for many years with 

 splendid success, never having lost all. • 

 My plan is to remove honey board in the 

 fall and cover lops of frames with a piece 

 of factory ; as the spring months approach, 

 cover the cloth with sawdust. The cellar 

 is dark though a light is carried in often 

 to procure vegetables; temperature uni- 

 formilyoO^ Farenheit. 



James Heddon — It is generally sup- 

 posed that brood-rearing in a winter re- 

 pository will lead to disastrous results ; 

 will Mr. Bull relate his experience in 

 this direction ? 



T. S. Bull — Two years ago a hive ac- 

 cidentally fell from a shelf on which it 

 had been placed, to the bottom of mj' 

 cellar, smashing the combs. 1 cleaned 

 up the muss as well as I could, and suc- 



ceeded in patching up a couple of combs. 

 These were placed in the centre of the 

 hive with an empty frame between them. 

 Those bees filled that empty frame with 

 comb, the queen deposited eggs therein, 

 the eggs produced perfect bees, and the 

 swarm came out in splendid condition. 

 The honey that was daubed on the hive 

 and bottom board stimulated them to 

 breed. I take no precautions against 

 noise; they soon become accustomed to 

 it, and remain quiet. 



Dr. Southard — Noise will not disturb 

 bees at 35 '^ when it will at 50 '^ . 



James Heddon — At our May conven- 

 tion Mr. Bingham gave a detailed ac- 

 count of his system of ventilating his 

 winter repository, which is admirable, 

 as he can keep the temperature at any 

 given point. Still he has lost heavily, 

 and is now in the South with his bees, 

 because he knows tluit nothing icill save 

 diseased bees in a cold climate. When 

 bees are diseased don't disturb them. 

 If anything ails a babe it v^'auts to eat. 

 (Had I realized that our medical breth- 

 ren were present, I wouldn't have said 

 it.) 'Tis just so with a dyspeptic man. 

 Nature's prime want is hunger. An ab- 

 normal condition of the system — physi- 

 cal weakness — calls for food, for relief, 

 which at best is only palliative, but more 

 frequently an aggravation. Disturb bees 

 and they will eat. 



Pi'es. Balch — 'Tis instinct to eat. 

 They carry honey with them when they 

 swarm, which is natural. 



James Heddon — This is true of sum- 

 mer, but not winter. Has any one pres- 

 ent ever wintered bees so they woukl not 

 speck the snow in spring? This is what 

 I would term perfect success. 



Pres. Balch — Have heard of such in- 

 stances, but they have never come under 

 my personal observation. 



James Heddon — I want neither too 

 old nor too young bees to winter well. 

 Bees should not rear brood so late that 

 the young bees cannot fly freely. 



Dr. Southard — No doubt some have 

 had admirable success in wintering with 

 upward ventilation; but they will eat 

 more. My experience saj's that this has 

 nothing to do with the result, howevei". 

 Heat and cold is at the bottom. 



The Secretary then read a paper from 

 J. H. Nellis, Canajoharie, N. Y., on 

 " Success in Bee-Keeping." Mr. N. 

 gave a very correct and comprehensive 

 epitome of the requisites of the art, 

 which was well received and discussed as 

 follows: 



James Heddon — This is one of the 

 best papers ever read before a bee con- 

 vention. I do not wish to criticise for 

 the sake of picking flaws, but will dis- 

 cuss one or two points contained in Mr. 

 Nellis' paper. When bees were plenti- 

 ful in box hives and cheap withal, capi- 



